


See You

by aerike



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Drabble Collection, M/M, Treat Yo Self, aka i have too many aus in my head, but dont wanna write a whole fic for all of them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:28:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22793278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerike/pseuds/aerike
Summary: "Life and death, one and the same"
Relationships: Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 120





	1. Don't die

**Author's Note:**

> unhinged zag (aka god of blood but like what the fuck is controlled powers) au  
> thing: since its just achilles' theory on zag being the god of blood, i took the liberty of expanding that a bit and by "god of blood" it expands to gods' ichor, cause...well, its their kind of blood  
> and also because i have no control over what i write  
> (midly inspired by the bloodbenders in atla)

Minutes ago, Thanatos was giving his report to Lord Hades, _almost_ letting his shoulders sag and _almost_ believing he would be able to rest his head on his pillow and sleep well for once.

Then there were several roars coming from Tartarus, Lord Hades' hand around his quill had tightned and almost broken it, his mother's shoulders seemed to be weirdly relaxed, and the Erinyes were darting to the entrance, their whips at hand and their wings looking sharper than the usual.

And Lord Hades demanded Thanatos to follow him, so he had no choice but take part in whatever chaos was happening down below.

"Lord Hades, if you allow me to ask," Thanatos began, letting the green light wings temporarily on his back take him wherever their Lord was going, "What is going on? An invasion?"

"No," the god of the dead pratically growled, "someone who couldn't simply _stay in their place_ thinking they can outsmart me".

Thanatos wanted to ask more. Who could possibly be the cause of such an uproar? The shades in the underworld didn't exactly have enough power to call for the attention of both the Erinyes _and_ Lord Hades, who had taken Death himself with him.

_Who could this...thing, be?_

Lord Hades had a son.

They were currently following a short figure, whose steps were made of fire, just like the god of the dead, his arms seemed to be more bruises than flesh and bone, whose agility and quickness could be nothing short of a blessing from Lord Hermes himself (Thanatos made a small mental note to ask the swift god _what_ had transpired, how they had found the rebel son of Lord Hades in the depths of the underworld, before he even knew the Lord had a son).

" _Zagreus!_ " Lord Hades bellowed, when they seemed to be a little too far behind the short figure.

The Lord's son took a single, brief look behind, staring directly at them. Thanatos couldn't see his face very well in the unstable light in the underworld, but it was enough to see a red eye glowing with anger, the tattered grey tunic he was wearing.

And the brief, weird movement done with his hands.

The Erinye let out a sharp scream, all three of them suddenly falling to the floor with their wings flapping wildly around. Megaera was the first to get back up, in only a matter of seconds, but _Zagreus_ was already out of their sight.

Lord Hades growled in frustration, quickly helping Tisiphone and Alecto get back up.

"Follow him, Thanatos" the ancient god turned his bitter red eyes to him, "you saw what he can do, _don't let him get away_ ".

Nodding, Thanatos let the green light wings open wide, taking him away.

He arrived a few steps short of the exit to the surface. Just ahead, scorch marks on the snow showed him exactly where _Zagreus_ seemed to be going. Apparently beyond the trees, on the dead forest just outside.

Thanatos walked carefully in that direction, mindful of any sound around, including his own. Meanwhile, his brain was trying to figure out the weird movement the smaller god (?) seemed to have done with his hands, able to bring the Furies to the floor immediately. What had Lord Hades said? _You saw what he can do_. Was this one of _Zagreus_ ' powers? Something inherited from the ancient god his father was? But if so, why didn't Lord Hades try to stop him before all that mad chase? Trying to bring his son back to...whatever depth of Tartarus he was before, unharmed? Although, Thanatos could still remember the bruises on the short man's arms, his angry red eye staring at Lord Hades as if the god of the dead was the source of absolutely all of his problems.

And yet, the Lord hadn't been the target of his invisible attack.

Lost in his thoughts, Thanatos almost let the sharp red projectile flying in his direction go through his neck. Almost.

"You don't want to mess with me right now".

He could see the Lord's son clearly now. He was crouched on the snow, his hands seemingly covering some kind of injury on his leg ( _of course he would somehow hurt himself_ , Thanatos thought, _he wouldn't be able to cross the whole underworld up to the surface unscathed_ ), the purples and yellows of his bruises now more clear to Thanatos' eyes, making him internally wince in sympathy. And he could see his eyes, one a blood red, the other a bright green.

Thanatos was sure he had seen that bright green before.

"Look--" he took a few steps ahead, trying to open his hands in a peaceful sign, but Zagreus made a slight movement with his fingers and suddenly Thanatos felt his arms and legs go rigid, completely refusing to move. It only lasted a single second, probably more of a warning than anything else, but immediately left his whole body feeling cold, with something he hadn't felt in...since when? The beginning of his existence? The sharp cut of _fear_ , the alien feeling of his hands shaking and his dead heart shrinking.

The short man shakily got up, his leg seeming to be barely able to take his weight. _Don't let him get away_. He limped two steps back, further into the dead forest beyond, not taking his mismatched eyes off Thanatos.

"I'm going to find my mother" his voice was rough, as if barely used in years, but it was firm, strong. "And not you, nor anyone else in that blasted house is going to stop me".

Thanatos swallowed, hiding his scythe away, trying to appear less intimidating.

"Prince, look--"

" _Don't you dare_ _call me a prince"_ he growled, venom dripping from his words.

Thanatos sighed. He couldn't see a solution to this. But what would he do? Go back to the House and tell Lord Hades he failed to bring his son back? He could only imagine what punishment the god of the dead would bring to him. In a darker corner of his mind, he wondered if anything happening to him would affect his mother, maybe even Hypnos even though they had only exchanged a few, well chosen words in the past few years. His dead heart seemed to grow colder by thinking about anything happening to them.

"I can't go back without you" he started, carefully measuring his words, "your father, he... You know how he is, right? Not exactly the forgiving type".

The anger in Zagreus' eyes seemed to fade slightly, now staring at Thanatos with cautious attention.

"You think..." he licked his dry lips, his injured leg shakily keeping him up still, "he would punish you? Bury you in some hidden corner in Tartarus and forget you there with other beings you didn't even knew still existed?" his words turned bitter, his hands coiling into fists.

Thanatos took a quick, careful look at his hands, _able to bring the three Furies down immediately_ , and then back at the red and green eyes.

"Is that what he did to you?"

Zagreus nodded, sighing shakily, his eyes shining with unshed tears.

"He didn't count on me learning what I am able to do, I guess" he laughed bitterly.

"What...what was that thing you did? You just...what is that you do, you control everyone?"

"What? No!" Zagreus shook his head, "I just... I feel their blood, I... I can tap on it? Kind of? I...The shades in Tartarus aren't exactly kind, you know that". Of course Thanatos knew that, he was responsible for bringing them for their punishment in the first place. "And I didn't have any weapon with me, father wasn't exactly kind enough to give me a sword, so I had to find other ways to defend myself".

"For how long have you been there? I don't remember ever hearing about you".

The young god's eye seemed to get lost in his own thoughts at the question, looking at nothing in front of him.

"I don't know," his voice was raspy, sadness dripping in, "I...I guess father knew about my powers before I even knew how to read and write, so...My time at the House was brief".

For some reason, Thanatos felt his chest get tight. What had such a young god done to anger someone as powerful as Lord Hades? Something wrong enough to get him thrown into the depths of Tartarus. The Titans were somewhere down there, their pieces spread around.

Some kind of betrayal?

"You're Thanatos, right?" the mismatched eyes were now shining with...hope?

"Yes".

"I heard about you, some of the shades with enough memory of the surface would talk about you sometimes, how you took them away".

"I'm guessing their words weren't kind"

"No" a shy smile appeared on the young god's lips, "they weren't, but...could you guide me around? Well, until I find the coast".

Thanatos blinked, his brain trying to catch up with what he had just been asked.

"The coast?"

"Yes! I...before I got, well, kicked out, I found a letter written by my mother, saying she'd live by the coast. Can you take me there?"

 _Don't let him get away_.

And yet, for some reason, Thanatos didn't feel compelled to bring Zagreus back.

"'The coast' is actually not that specific of a place" he tried, still trying to fight the weird urge to help the smaller man.

"I don't mind! I just have to search for her"

_Lord Hades will end me for this._

"Fine. I'll...I'll help you".

Zagreus gave him a bright smile, and half of Thanatos' mind was thinking it made everything worth it.


	2. Live. Go.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He approached the bed, slowly putting his scythe near the man’s throat. But his heart wasn’t in it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Death falls in love with who they are supposed to kill trope)
> 
> im giving subtle hints of loving cheesy tropes

The young man was supposed to be dead hours ago.

It would be a quite silly death, really. _Cause of death: tripped and hit his head_ . And the young man _had_ tripped, his legs _had_ wobbled as he tried to get up, until the purple haired woman helped him, and yet Thanatos couldn’t bring himself to take his scythe out and slice the man’s neck to take his soul as quickly as possible. 

What was it? Would the man trip on his feet again later, and so Thanatos should pay attention to the other lights about to be out, burning on the back of his mind? Come back later, maybe? 

Curiosity about the young man was about to consume his soul.

There was nothing special about him, fairly young adult, short, seemed to have a special talent for getting into trouble (in the few hours Thanatos had been observing the man, he’d managed to trip and fall on his head, scrap a knee, fall down a roof, and slip on a banana peel on the sidewalk, all of it followed by a tired sigh from the tall purple haired woman) (and yet the man always managed to bounce back, and honestly Thanatos couldn’t tell if it was sheer stubbornness or his own lack of interference). 

After enough hissing from the Fates, he went back to the other souls. He made quick work of them, not really listening their pleas as he sent them downstairs (Sisyphus was the last soul he heard the pleas of, and look at what _that_ got him), and, by the time he went back to the whereabouts of the young man, it was already dark out.

He seemed to be going back home. The tall woman was no longer with him, but Thanatos could still see him take out his...phone? (He stopped keeping up with mortals and their technology a while ago, really), a smile appearing on his face every so often. But as he got closer to his home, Thanatos could see his shoulders sag, his steps slow down. The young man stopped to talk with his blond neighbor, to have a simple chat with a soft-spoken woman.

But he, inevitably, had to enter his house sometime. 

Inside, Thanatos could hear a slightly raised and gruffy-sounding voice, the barks of at least 3 dogs, the young man arguing about something and giving a frustrated sigh.

Looking up, Thanatos noticed the old, almost dead tree, its branches nearly perching on a windowsill on the second level of the house. He could hear the young man getting closer to that part of the house. Without thinking, he let his feet leave the ground, take him to the tree branch closest to the window.

There, the young man’s bedroom. It was an absolute mess, clothes thrown around, books pilling near the bed, brushes and tubes of paint spread around on a small table on the corner. Seemed weirdly fitting with what Thanatos had seem of the young man during the day.

The same man entered the room seconds later.

The man threw his bag on the floor, his shoes quickly getting a place in a cluttered corner. Without getting his clothes off, he buried himself in his blankets, not feeling Death nearby.

Minutes later, when Thanatos was sure the house was completely silent, he carefully opened the window, quietly stepping inside the messy room, his scythe taking its place in his hands.

For a second, he wondered what would the young man’s cause of death be. Heart failure? Lung collapse? Simply gave up on life and welcomed Death with open arms?

The last possibility made his breath stutter for a moment. 

He approached the bed, slowly putting his scythe near the man’s throat. But his heart wasn’t in it.

His chest was cold, he couldn’t tell why. His hands were shaking, his scythe refusing to stay true to its target. He couldn’t hear the Fates’ constant hissing, couldn’t hear the toll of certain death in his mind.

_What is happening to me?_

His scythe clattered to the ground. He shakily kneeled aside the man’s bed, staring at the sleeping face, his brows furrowed in confusion. What was that man? With such power over Death itself, without raising a single finger or giving a single look? 

And yet, he could almost feel his dead heart beat, filling his veins with a feeling he only heard about from shades in the underworld, their ghostly tears over a lost lover, over missing someone bond to their own life thread. 

Was this it? Had Thanatos’ heart given up on its cold state? For a simple, foolish, mortal man?

The young man suddenly stirred, snapping Thanatos out of his thoughts. His eyes opened, two completely different shades of color, and they immediately locked on Thanatos, giving him a sleepy, and yet weirdly content, look.

And for a single moment, he could hear his heart beat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you have any au suggestions for a drabble, you can totally come on [my blog](https://aerike.tumblr.com/) and tell me about it 👀


	3. open door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well. He was alive. That much everyone was certain of, but what kind of power could simply make a god disappear without a trace?

“Feels like it's been so long” Megaera whispered, absently fiddling with Battie’s wings between her fingers, “no one has seen him, not the Olympians, not Lord Hermes…”

Charon groaned, his paddle not so gently guiding the souls inside his boat. Thanatos could tell what Charon meant. That he hadn’t seen Zagreus either, that none of the souls he guided daily and nightly said anything about a trouble-seeking prince walking around the surface, no one had heard about him finding his mother. The bitter cold still permeated the surface, meaning no news had reached Lady Demeter about either her grandson or her daughter. 

Lord Hades still hadn’t talked about it. About how Zagreus should have already found his birth mother, should have already found himself in enough trouble to send him back to the House of Hades, dripping and mumbling about trying again. Neither Thanatos nor Megaera could tell if Lord Hades would ever act, would ever at least pretend he cared about his son. 

But Thanatos was tired of seeing his Mother try to keep her thoughts in check, seemingly always trying to contact the Olympians, asking if they had heard anything about Zagreus, had seen his shadow, knew if he was still alive. 

Well. He was alive. That much everyone was certain of, but what kind of power could simply make a god disappear without a trace? 

“I don’t see him” Hypnos had said one day, while they were sitting around a table in the lounge. Dusa was not so discreetly trying to listen to their conversation. “No mortal has dreamed about him yet, I mean, if any mortal saw someone walking around with a sword and burning feet they would remember it, no?”

“I don’t know” Thanatos sighed, the tips of the claws on his gauntlet absently tapping on the glass full of wine, “I don’t know”. 

  
  
  


He found the bloodstone buried in the fresh snow outside the Temple of Styx. Its red glow indicated it belonged to Zagreus, had probably been buried since his last fight with Lord Hades, when the whole Underworld had shook as it said goodbye to the prince. 

Thanatos didn’t know how to summon a bloodstone. It was one of the few tricks Zagreus had learnt that Thanatos hadn’t even been able to grasp. He knew Lord Hades also had this ability, but last time he checked, the Lord’s bloodstones were made of fire, of hate, of enough heat to boil a mortal alive. 

He turned the bloodstone around in his hand. It was warm, but not in a dangerous way. More like the fireplace in the lounge, or the candle in the ridiculously fancy table Zag had given to him. A comforting warmth, not like the Sun on the surface, ready to burn his eyes and instill illness in his soul. 

Thanatos put the bloodstone away inside his robes. 

The faces of the mortals around him on the surface had changed dramatically with time. Thanatos knew it meant years were passing, decades, centuries. How they managed to thrive even in the bitter cold, Thanatos had no idea. Mortals could survive the bitter cold but could die from a simple sneeze. There was no logic involved in their creation. 

Thanatos himself wasn’t frozen in time. His hair had grown, now reaching his shoulders. His jewels no longer shone as bright as they used to, only his scythe and his sword keeping their dangerous edge, the black paint on his nails flaking and cracking. For some reason, he couldn’t particularly bring himself to care. What was it Megaera always said? Only mortals worried about a thing as foolish as time. 

He was currently pretending to hear Lord Hermes endlessly chatting away. For someone who was so often worried about being fast and on time, Lord Hermes sure had the availability to talk about nonsense. Who cared about Lord Zeus receiving a letter from a minor god? Who cared about Lord Ares finding new traces of bloodshed in the middle of some mountains no one cared about? Not Thanatos, certainly. 

Thanatos wasn’t sure for how long Lord Hermes talked, or when he stopped, but it took him a while to notice Lord Hermes looking at him with weirdly sharp eyes. 

Thanatos raised an eyebrow. Lord Hermes hmmed.

“Have you been resting, boss? Your eyebags seem deeper than normal”.

“I don’t exactly need to rest”

“Of course you need to, all of us do! Not in the same pathetic rate mortals need, but gods deserve a rest every so often, you know”.

Thanatos sighed, shaking his head. They remained in silence for a few moments. Thanatos stared at Lord Hermes with the corner of his eyes. The question was old by now, having been asked millions of times, not only by Thanatos and not only to the Olympians.

“Any news?” 

Lord Hermes knew exactly what he meant. He sighed and pressed his lips tight for a moment, the orange plumes around his head flapping in an unhappy way.

“Sadly, no. Lady Artemis went on a hunting trip a few weeks ago, though, she might find something out”.

Not good enough.

Thanatos shifted away, only sending a curt nod as farewell. 

  
  


Even after all this time, the bloodstone hadn’t grown cold. 

It kept the same warmth from the day Thanatos had found it, the same red glow. Lord Hades hadn’t found out Thanatos kept it, or that Megaera and him were still searching for his son with the help of Nyx and Charon. Thanatos wasn’t sure what his reaction would be if he did find out, and neither did he want to know. 

Thanatos twirled it around between his fingers. A curious shade behind him tried to take a peek at what he was doing, but quickly backed away when Thanatos sent them a cold stare. Even in the afterlife the mortals feared Death, they didn’t make any sense. 

“A moment, lad?” Achilles approached him, his spear tapping on the floor with his ghostly steps.

_ I’m much older than you _ , Thanatos wanted to say. But it was childish. Something he would say when Zagreus was a child and they were bickering for some stupid reason such as who broke the vase near Lord Hades’ chambers or who stole the knife set from the head chef. 

Thanatos stepped to the side, giving Achilles space to stare at the River Styx with him. Achilles sighed, resting his spear against the rail.

“It’s been a pretty long time,” he turned to Thanatos, “hasn’t it?”.

Had it? Thanatos couldn’t tell. He no longer looked at the face of the mortals on the surface or whatever new trinket they invented. 

“I guess so”

Achilles nodded slightly, turning his gaze to the red water below. Only then Thanatos noticed the small creature in his hands. 

“I gave it to the prince, before he departed” Achilles turned the companion around in his hands. Thanatos couldn’t feel anything from it, he only ever felt something from his own Mort. But then again, he never understood how Zagreus could use them to summon whoever gifted it to him. Maybe another trick he had mastered and Thanatos had only grasped. “He… he helped me. And Patroclus. An awful lot”.

Thanatos hmmed.

“He very often told me Patroclus helped him when he was almost giving up,” Thanatos looked at Achilles, “I’m sure you took your part in that, also.”

Achilles sighed.

“I did what I could,” he put the companion away, grabbed his spear and turned around to walk away, “As we all did. As we all do.” 

“Your hair,” Megaera began, pouring a glass of nectar for herself, “Is as long as it was when you were younger.”

Megaera herself wasn’t frozen in time, either. If it was even possible, she was taller, her hair glowing a healthy tone of purple, her nails now painted in green instead of bright pink. 

“I see Dusa had a choice in your nails today” Thanatos replied, poking the slice of cake in his plate. He was never one for sweet things, why he had ordered a slice of cake was beyond him.

“Well, maybe” Megaera had a warm smile on her face, but it quickly vanished when she took a look at his own nails. “Where is your nail polish? I could paint yours for you.”

Thanatos was even more disgusted by the cake now. Frowning, he pushed the plate away.

“Zag’s chambers”.

“I see,” she hmmed, tapping her fingers on the table. “Well, what if…”

Thanatos looked at her, waiting.

“Dusa has some red tones. Want to take a look?”

Thanatos stared at the table, pensive. 

  
  
  


Thanatos sat under the large tree. For some reason, ever since years (decades? centuries?) ago, the Sun didn’t hurt him as much, anymore. He didn’t feel ill. But still, the shadows offered a kind of comfort the shiny beams could not. 

None of the animals around approached him. Not that he cared about it. No one in the mortal world was willing to approach Death, putting a swift end to a short life, only a microscopic fraction of how much Death had lived so far.

His scythe sat close to him, resting against the tree. Thanatos didn’t pay attention to it, his brain was already unconsciously aware of it all the time, he could summon it at will, there was no reason to care about it. 

Until a red and black blade, with a skull on its pommel and old glowing runes on its face, poked it. 

Thanatos felt his heart grow cold, his ears start to ring. His scythe was calling to him, in the back of his mind. But it had a weirdly cheerful tone, one Thanatos hadn’t ever heard before, as if it had found something it had long lost. 

Swallowing, Thanatos slowly turned around, his golden eyes finding a mismatched pair of red and green.

“I thought you said you didn’t like the sun?”


End file.
